Envelop.



L. W. SIMMONS.

ENVELOP.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 20, 190B.

91 3 ,987. Patented Mar. 2, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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L. W. SIMMONS.

ENVELOP.

APYLIOATION TILED MAY 20, 1908.

91 3,987. Patented Mar. 2, 1909. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

vwamtoz W8 tn woes QMWM UNITED STATES LEON W. SIMMONS, OF FOREST LAKE, MINNESOTA.

ENVELOP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 2, 1909.

Application filed May 20, 1908. Serial No. 433,960.

T 0 all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEON W. SIMMONs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Forest Lake, in the county of Washington, State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Envelops; and I do hereby 'declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descri tion of the invention, such as will enable ot iers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to envelops, more particularly to the class of envelops so constructed that they cannot be opened surreptitiously or opened without detection, and has for one of its objects to improve the construction and increase the efficiency and utility of devices of this character.

With these and other objects in View the invention consists first in providing the end flaps of an envelop with projecting tongues adapted to fold over the sealing flap after the latter is folded and sealed, and thus firmly secure the sealing flap and prevent it from being opened without destroying the tongues, and thus-revealing the fact that the envelop has been tampered with.

The invention further consists in providing the end flaps of an envelop'with clefts wherebytongues are released which are foldable over the sealing flap after the latter is closed. \Vith these and other objects in View the invention consists in certain novel features of construction as hereafter shown and described and then specifically pointed out in the claim, and in the drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is a view of an envelop from the sealing side with the sealing flap 1n open position and the tongues folded back to permit the sealing flap to be disposed upon the upper. edges of the end flaps and over the terminals of the back flap. Fig. 2 is a View of the envelop in closed position with the tongues folded over and sealed upon the closurefiap. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a view of the blank from which the envelop is constructed.

The improved device may be apphed t any of the various forms of envelops, but for the purpose of illustration is shown applied to a conventional envelop formed from a body 10, end flaps 1112, a back flap 13, and

a closure flap 14, of the usual construction, the end flaps having clefts 1516 whereby tongues 1718 are released, the clefts bemg so disposed relative to the closure flap 14 that when the latter is closed with its gummed edge 19 disposed over the free edges of the end flaps and over the point of the back flap, the root portions of the tongues w1ll come at the lower portions of the closure flap, so that the tongues can be readily folded over the adjacent edges of the closure flap, as shown, and thus complete the sealing of the envelop. The tongues will be provided with adhesive material which enables them to be sealed upon the closure flap, as will be obvious. By this simple means the envelop is doubly secured after the ordmary sealing of the closure flap is accomplished, so that the envelop cannot be opened surreptltiously without exposing the fact of such openlng, so that the contents of the envelop are protected from unlawful access, as will be obvious.

The device is simple in constructlon, does not add materially to the expense of the en velop, and does not add to its welght or size, as nothing is added to or taken from the envelop, the only change being to form the clefts in the end flaps which can be done without additional expense when the en velop is manufactured.

The improved device may beapplled to envelops of all sizes and to envelops manufactured from different kinds of paper, and wiil be found very effective especially in sending matter which it is desired to protect from surreptitious handling.

What is claimed, is

An envelop comprising a front, a seal ng flap extending from said front and having converging outer edges, end flaps foldable over the front, a bottom flap foldable over the front and adjacent portions of the end flaps, said end flaps having slits parallel to the converging edges ofthe sealing flap and bearing over the same when the sealing flap is in closed position.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

LEON W. SIMMONS.

Witnesses:

A. F. WALKER, CHAS. YONNGEN. 

